Page 58 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2025 Digital Edition

Peter Green. Photo by Nick Contador, CC BY-SA 4.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Fleetwood Mac) and Mick Taylor (later in The Rolling Stones).
In particular, Mayall’s band-leading skills were fantastic,
as he never missed a beat with constantly changing quality
personnel. All these musicians and bands are essential to the
creation and development of the initial British Blues Boom.
The Boom had its second wave in the mid to late-‘60s with
producer Mike Vernon leading the way with his influential Blue Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown. Photo by Arnie Goodman Photography
Horizon label. He began at Decca Records with Mayall, first Homesick James and Johnny Shines. Vernon would go on to
recording John Mayall Plays John Mayall live at Klooks Kleek, produce the early recordings of Savoy Brown and Ten Years
followed by Blues Breakers featuring Eric Clapton, which took After (so named because it was 10 years after Elvis Presley
the blues beyond its borders and became the best-selling blues debuted another big American influence on the Brits). Blue
LP of the time. Vernon then formed Blue Horizon with Peter Horizon LPs are collectibles to this day and Fleetwood Mac’s
Green, Fleetwood and many state-side artists like Otis Spann, Blues Jam In Chicago remains a touchstone to the USA-U.K.
connection. Young Marshall Chess was there at Chess Studios
during its recording, and it served as a major influence on the
subsequent Fathers and Sons LP featuring Muddy, Otis Spann,
Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield, as well as The London
Sessions featuring Muddy, Wolf and Bo Diddley – all of which
introduced these icons to a younger audience.
The talent flying back and forth across the pond was second-
to-none and influenced all the music to follow, essentially
morphing into blues-rock and then “classic rock.” And to think it
all started in the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta.

From Jackson Heights, NY, Paul Aaronson began his record
career in 1978 as a salesman at Record Shack of NY 1-Stop
before becoming a sales manager at Important Record
Distributors in 1981. He also worked at independent record
labels Domino and Viceroy in the 1990s, and was the re-issue
editor at Elmore magazine from 2005-2015. Aaronson has
been a record dealer for the past 25 years and is enjoying the
current popularity of “vinyl.” He’d like to dedicate this article
to the late Joel Weissman, who lived, breathed and played the
real folk blues, as well as extend thanks to Arnie Goodman and
Nicknamed “The Beano Album,” Blues Breakers was John Mayall & the
Bluesbreakers’ debut studio album featuring Eric Clapton, and showcased a fresh Ira Leslie for their invaluable assistance. To connect, email him
guitar-dominated blues-rock sound. at: paulidealrecords@gmail.com.

56 Blues Festival Guide 2025